Promise of the Flame (The Hidden Flame Book 2) by Sylvia Engdahl

Author:Sylvia Engdahl [Engdahl, Sylvia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ad Stellae Books
Published: 2009-10-09T18:30:00+00:00

~ 35 ~

In the days that followed, hope within the Group was rekindled. Jesse was not sure whether this was because Peter had managed to alter their perception of the future, or merely because they had placed their trust in Peter. Everyone except Jesse and the new trainees had been brought into the Group by Ian, who—as Kira had once mentioned—had been the equal of the great spiritual leaders of ancient Earth. His death had been a blow from which they could not quickly recover. They had followed Peter because Ian had appointed him heir, emigrated to a new world because he had said Ian wanted them to, had gone into stasis aboard the starship because he’d convinced them that their regard for Ian’s memory demanded it. Now, after the shock of almost losing him to crippling and near-death, their allegiance had shifted. From now on they would follow him, not for Ian’s sake but because he had proven unshakable.

The Commons meal shifts were rearranged. All the men gathered before dawn for their single scant meal of the day. The women ate later, at noon and in the early evening, sparingly but no less than required to maintain the health of their unborn babies. “It goes without saying that fasting will be voluntary,” Peter had said to the men. It also went without saying that “voluntary” was a mere formality in this case, Jesse thought, for no one would intentionally violate a rule presented as part of the Ritual commitment to use mind power. Nor would anyone choose to eat more than a fair share when food was scarce.

Each of them, immediately preceding the scheduled neurofeedback session in which the volitional alteration of metabolism would be taught to him, was asked to fast totally for three days. The skill would be easiest to learn, Peter explained, when the body craved nourishment. “Doesn’t fasting lead to altered consciousness, Peter?” someone asked when this was first discussed. “Historically, it was one of the techniques employed by shamans and mystics.”

“That’s true. It’s not what we’re seeking and in any case, we already know how to choose what kind of altered state we want to be in—we’ve learned through neurofeedback to enter states the ancients needed fasting to attain. But if it happens spontaneously during the initial training phase, no harm will be done.”

This revelation worried Jesse far more than the prospect of being hungry. He’d never liked the idea of altered states and he knew there were more than had been taught to him as a necessary part of his mind training. So far he had not experienced disorientation or seen visions or slipped out of his body, as Hari and perhaps others had during rainmaking, and he did not want to. The mere thought repelled and frightened him.

He soon found, however, that hunger had a greater effect on his mind than on his stomach. Despite determined resistance, he began to feel . . . detached. He couldn’t shake himself back to his normal focus on work.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.